The international band of Internet activists known as Anonymous has chosen the rural Missouri town of Maryville as the target of its latest campaign, after the Kansas City Star published a powerful examination of a possible rape case that went unprosecuted by local authorities.

Known for successful hacks of organizations ranging from the Church of Scientology to PayPal to the government of Brazil, Anonymous released a statement on Monday in which a synthesized voice warns Mayor Jim Fall and other officials to “expect us.”

“If Maryville won’t defend these young girls, if the police are too cowardly or corrupt to do their jobs, if justice system has abandoned them, then we will have to stand for them,” the voice declares, according to the text of the statement.

The action is a response to reporter Dugan Arnett’s deep dive into a case that began in the wee hours of Jan. 8, when 14-year-old Daisy Coleman (her name was published at her mother’s behest, because she wanted to bring her daughter’s story to light) and a 13-year-old friend climbed from a bedroom window to join an older boy, Matthew Barnett, at his house. At the time, Barnett was a 17-year-old senior on the Maryville High School football team. Daisy, a freshman cheerleader, was delighted by the senior boy’s attentions, and ignored her older brother’s advice to steer clear of him, Arnett reported.

Barnett, the grandson of former state representative Rex Barnett, later admitted to police that he knew the girl was drinking at his house and that he had sex with her while she was drunk (this was recorded on a friend’s iPhone). Other witnesses told authorities that he loaded the girl, in tears, into his car and left her unconscious on her front porch in subfreezing cold. When her mother found Daisy the next morning, her hair was frozen.

Nodaway County sheriff Darren White told the Star that he “absolutely” expected the case to end up in court. “Within four hours, we had obtained a search warrant for the house and executed that. We had all of the suspects in custody and had audio/video confessions.”

Instead, the charges were dropped, much of the town turned on the Coleman family, Daisy’s mother Melinda was fired from her job, and — after the Colemans left town — their house burned down under suspicious circumstances. Melinda Coleman is not the only one wondering whether the prominence of Barnett’s family had something to do with the decision not to prosecute.

Anonymous played a role in publicizing a similar case in Steubenville, Ohio. One of the hacktivist members, later identified as Deric Lostutter, produced a message accusing local officials of attempting to cover up the rape of a 16-year-old girl by two members of the high school football team.

Among other actions, the loosely affiliated membership hacked the football team’s website — sparking an FBI investigation of Lostutter.

what bothers me is IF Maryville Police Department or evil. Think of the innocent people they have probably done things too .Perhaps if a lawsuit follows Discovery when bring many out , And they will tell their story. It was through Discovery thta got the head DA fire in Houston Texas . He was a man of great power .Emails did him in .

Yes, deliberately getting a minor drunk (a crime), and then committing STATUTORY rape, also a crime, is WRONG! Apparently, a grandson of a State Senator seems to be above the law. The girls families ought to consult an attorney to check with the current precedence of a male minor having sex with a younger female minor. I'd think that the 2 young men would face, at the very least, charges starting in the Juvenile Court. AND maybe get enough people to RECALL the Senator should there be any Obstruction of Justice on his part.

My heart goes out to the girl and her family. Props to anonymous for highlighting this case.That aside, a personal complaint about the website. My browser just blocked 18 different trackers, cookies, web beacons and pixel tags from this page. While I can grudgingly accept the presence of Google Analytics, or maybe Twitter Badge or Facebook Connect, eighteen its just way too much, especially since most of them will follow you after you leave this page. There's even a few (like Omniture) that has the ability to reappear even if you delete all your cookies and browser history.Here's the full list of trackers used by Time.com:BlueKaiGoogle AdsenseTypekitOmnitureRevenue ScienceQuantcastComscore BeaconNetratings Site CensusBrightcoveOptimizelyWordpress StatsTynt TracerTaboolaGoogle AnalyticsTwitter BadgeFacebook ConnectGoogle +1LinkedIn

I have personally witnessed the Maryville Police Department falsely and violently arrest a law-abiding citizen and then cover up their tracks. The Prosecutor and the Judge also did their own manipulation of this person's rights and the Law. A very good Attorney, from Kansas City, was hired to defend the victim and he also faced their lawless crap in the Courtroom. It was very obvious and wide open for all to see that the City's legal system banded together in order to make it cleat that they could do whatever they wanted to do and that was that. Something worth researching, which I have not seen mentioned in regards to this case, is the "Color Law." It's a broader definition of "Ticket Fixing." I can't believe that this issue can't be reviewed and dealt with on a State or a Federal level. This issue deserves a proper investigation and the appropriate people should be removed from their positions of authority. Cases like this is why our young people have no respect for authority.

Why didn't Prosecutor Rice just push the case forward, he had enough evidence, confessions and even the support of the the victim herself who wanted to see the case go forward (something his office denies, but why?), who at all times cooperated with his office.

Why would Rice just back off like that? Who was he protecting, bowing to, apologizing for? Did he just think the girl asked for it, was sleazy cause she sneaked out to get to the party? Did she really change her story or fail to cooperate as his office insists?

Of course the question now is, is there enough political will to get the case re opened especially now that Lt gov Kinder wants a grand jury and with anonymous breathing down everyone's neck? Then again why did it even have to resort to this in the first place....? So much for justice for all…..

No. Rule 65: Anonymous is not your personal army. Anonymous does not need good PR, Anonymous is the internet hate machine. Anonymous is unstoppable, Anonymous is legion. Nothing is sacred, everything is lulz or fail. Anonymous defends only the lulz, and the internets that provide them. Anonymous does not support those who fail on their own. Only those who win. Fail is it's own reward.Those who think Anon is truly on their side in situations like this already fail. The real haxxorz in the hate machine would never go near such unlulzy white knighting. They can wear the mask, hide behind the name, but they're just a zit on the ass of the real thing, not the arm and definitely not the face. If the real Anon ever brought their attention to you, everyone, victims, perpetrators, everyone, should be afraid. Because there would be no one in the vicinity left unreamed. But these people would never earn that attention. They're just not lulzy, win, or fail enough. Problem?

The father of the boy isn't just a politician, he was a career cop. Another case of a pig (and he deserves the name pig) subverting the laws when it comes to friends and family. No wonder no one trusts the police.

Justice dressed as the Reaper would be justice served for these punks and their apologist accomplices. Prison, however enjoyable it may be think of their time there is just wasting more space and resources on these barbarians.

This is difficult to read, and I'm so glad they might finally see the world is behind them even though that disgusting hick town spit on them. I hope more than anything the arson isn't forgotten and they get to the bottom of who burned their house down! That was truly the kick in the gut at the end of the whole ordeal. And for the fire department to be incompetent enough to know where it started!? That's bull! The whole thing reaks of a cover up. A pathetic small town cover up by the republican politician. I am not dragging politics into this, please read the story for yourselves and see what I am talking about. The suspect has a family member who is a very powerful republican politician in that town. As soon as word reached the victim strings were being pulled to drop the case, they couldn't believe it but within the day it was dropped!

@Trollface Really? Lets see....a 14 year old gets raped, filmed while being raped, left for possible death, and the rapist goes free. big power in families and charges dropped.

Anyone who knows someone who has been drugged (ruffied?)..knows the exact thing she describes, is exactly what it does to you. I had not only an employee be a victim, but someone that is like a son to our family. I sat up all night watching vigil over him. It is very frightening.

Who stands for them? If Anonymous was my son, I would be so very proud. They stand up for injustice. That simple.

Thank God for Anonymous, who helped bring national attention to the good ole boys network. Justice for Daisy.

@fakeaccount123 she deserves attention. she was drugged, raped, left for dead. they burned her house down. her rapist walked free and (allegedly) raped others. they tried to shut her up and make her go away. she deserves ALL the attention. try to get on point here... you seem to have missed it completely.

@fakeaccount123 Jeezo pete's! People fail at suicide quite often, fortunately. There is a difference between "...just wanted attention," and a cry for help. I hope you never get raped or feel so hopeless, lost ruined that you consider taking yourself out of the game. On the other hand, perhaps if you were to experience this nadir, you would finally get a handle on a little thing we call "empathy".

Let's assume you are from Missouri and your are appalled that there is no justice for the family in question, but you won't take 10 minutes to make a complaint to the state attorney general, your congressman, or your governor. So you are appalled but won't try and change the situation.

Let us then conclude that you really don't give a damn.

If enough people make a stink about this justice will be served.

If its your state then it's your elected officials who turn a blind eye to injustice.

Enjoy your state and pray it is not your daughter that you find dead on your doorstep.